Covered this event for British Gymnastics at the weekend. It was held at the Europa Gymnastics Centre in London. Great venue 12 apparatus pieces working at the same time.

Photos online at http://bit.ly/Ar6CsP

Kristian Thomas and Jennifer Pinches English Champions 2012

Report from British Gymnastics below:

On the 2nd-4th March, the women’s and men’s artistic English Championships took place at the new Europa centre in Kent. One of the first major competitions in the artistic calendar, the championships saw many big names fighting for the various titles up for grabs.

Women

In the senior women’s category, Jennifer Pinches from the City of Liverpool took the title ahead of : Francis in silver and Niamh Rippin from Notts in bronze. Beth Tweddle MBE only competed on the bars but produced an almost flawless performance to score 15.9 and take the apparatus title.

In the junior competition Gabby Jupp from Sapphire comfortably took gold, with impressive scores on the vault, beam and floor. Charlie Fellowsfrom Sandbach took the silver with Katy Bramley from Notts in bronze.

Tyesha Mattis of East London took the espoir title with a huge score of 52.5, ahead of the younger of the Downie sisters, Ellie Downie and Amy Tinkler from South Durham in the bronze.

Men

In the men’s senior competition, Kristian Thomas took the top spot with South Essex team mates Max Whitlock and Reiss Beckford in second and third respectively. Louis Smith took the pommel horse title with 15.400.

In the men’s Senior B category, Frank Baines was crowned the champion, with Brinn Bevan from South Essex taking the junior title and Donell Osbourne from Earls taking the boys.

Covered the UK School Games at Ice Sheffield for British Gymnastics last weekend. Lighting here was a challenge. Had to shoot at 2500 iso to 3200 iso with a shutter speed of 1/400s. Colour balance was also difficult to get right. The challenges of indoor sports photography! Looks like they might have two sets of lighting at the arena as I have had reports that the lighting is very good here.

Competition report below courtesy of British Gymnastics

Day one – team and all-around

The Welsh girls matched the English boys by sweeping up all the medals in the all-around and team events. Angel Romaeo was the individual winner scoring 52.200, with Raer Theaker in Silver with 51.700, and Keira Brennan in Bronze with 50.150.
As a team Wales were neck and neck with England after two rotations but then took control to end up with a comfortable winning margin and a final total of 204.350, ahead of England (196.700) and Scotland (192.200).

The English boys dominated the team and all-around event. Joe Fraser led the way scoring 78.800 to take the individual honours with teammates Giarnni Regini-Moran in Silver (76.150) and Hamish Carter, Bronze (74.400).

In the team event England comfortably took the Gold with 307.450, ahead of Wales (286.500) and Scotland (285.250).

Covering a Junior Football Tournament recently and was fortunate to catch this group of young players during a penalty shoot out.I had to run the length of two pitches to get the shot,not easy as I was carrying a 400 2.8 and an 70-200 2.8.I think it was worth it though. The enthusiasm of these young players deserved to be captured.

Penalty Shoot Out by Alan Edwards

The rest of the images from the shoot can be found at ww.f2images-photolibrary.co.uk

16/04 – The women’s event took place today in front of a sell out crowd in the Kelvin Hall arena. There were some strong contenders in the group but with a lot of falls counted, the medal places were fought right to the finish. Racea (ROU) took the top spot after a clean all-around performance showing composure throughout. Lopez (VEN) took the Silver medal position with consistent scores on all pieces. The young Romanian Haidu grabbed the Bronze despite two falls, performing an energetic floor routine to secure her place in the top 3. Britain’s Hannah Whelan finished in 5th, with some good work but unfortunate falls that left her outside the medals. Jennifer Pinches also from Great Britain finished in 8th, she ended with a solid performance on floor but earlier mistakes proved to be costly.

Britain’s Daniel Purvis takes the men’s title!

16/04 – The Men’s competition at the Glasgow World Cup all-around contained a lot of experienced gymnasts that all had the potential to take home a medal. Dan Purvis (GBR) gave a superb performance throughout to claim the Gold medal in front of a supportive home crowd. Purvis was closely followed by the recently crowned European Champion, Phillip Boy (GER), whose fall on Vault cost him the title. The bronze went to Rafael Martinez from Spain who performed some exciting routines to please the crowd. Britain’s Sam Hunter finished down in 8th position whilst wildcard Daniel Keating’s (GBR) used the competition to enter back onto the World stage following a serious knee injury, although he could not be counted in the overall rankings, Keatings put in a very promising performance- 87.366. (From BG Website copyright BG)

Covered the Super League game yesterday. In an attempt to get fitter I decided to cycle part way there. Managed about 8 miles in total. Not bad with a Nikon 400 2.8 on your back!
Great way to arrive at the match though no parking problems. Great bike parking at the Halliwell Jones Stadium as well.
Looking to get a pair of panniers that will carry some of the camera gear. Need to have room for a laptop another camera and lens.
The game itself was a one sided affair with Warrington hammering Leeds and showing true Championship potential.
Photos now online at http://www.f2images-photolibrary.co.uk